Partiality of members in Livingstone disciplinary hearing questioned

Board of Deputies president Jonathan Arkush has said the Jewish community will raise the issue of impartiality of members of Ken Livingstone’s original disciplinary hearing when they next meet Labour leaders.

Arkush was reacting to new details released by LBC radio – which obtained the leaked transcript of the former mayor’s hearing two years ago – in which Palestine campaigner Russell Cartwright was revealed as a panel member.

“That’s why we asked for the process to have an independent ombudsman to not interfere, except where we felt there was a problem,” said Arkush, who met Labour’s new General-Secretary Jennie Formby last month.

“One of the problems would obviously be where someone who is a judge at one of these tribunals is not an independent person with a genuinely independent view to bear.”

Cartwright’s questioning highlighted the right-wing views of those interviewing Livingstone, including LBC’s own Iain Dale, who stood as a Conservative Party candidate, and Andrew Neil, the former editor of The Sunday Times who currently chairs Press Holdings, which owns The Telegraph and The Spectator.